The Outer
Hebrides comprise an island chain off the west coast of Scotland and would
remain under the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles while the Inner Hebrides broke
out under Somerled, the Norse-Celtic kinsman of both Lulach and the Manx royal
house. The Outer Hebrides being almost entirely composed of gneiss the epithet
suitably serves them, but, strictly speaking, only the more northerly of the
Inner Hebrides may be distinguished as Trap Islands. The chief islands of
the Outer Hebrides are Lewis-with-Harris (or Long Island), North Uist, Benbecula,
South Uist, Barra, the Shiants, St Kilda and the Flannan. Isles, or Seven
Hunters, an uninhabited group, about 20 m. N.W. of Gallon Head in Lewis. Of
these the Lewis portion of Long Island, the Shiants and the Flannan belong
to the county of Ross and Cromarty,
and the remainder to Inverness-shire. The total length of this group, from
Barra Head to the Butt of Lewis, is 130 m., the breadth varying from less
than I m. to 30 m. The Inner Hebrides are much more scattered and principally
include Skye, Small Isles (Canna, Sanday, Rum, Eigg and Muck), Coil, Tyree,
Lismore, Mull, Ulva, Staffa, Iona, Kerrera, the Slate Islands (Seil, Easdale,
Luing, Shuna, Torsay), Colonsay, Oronsay, Scarba, Jura, Islay and Gigha. Of
these Skye and Small Isles belong to Inverness-shire, and the rest to Argyllshire.
The
Inner Hebrides, from 1156 known as the Kingdom of the Hebrides, still
nominally was under the sovereignty of Norway, the leaders were Scottish in
language and culture rather than Norse. After Somerled's death in 1164 the
rulers of Mann would no longer be in control of the Inner Hebrides. In 1164,
Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf. The Lord of the Isles would
continue to rule the Inner Hebrides as well as part of the Western
Highlands as a subject of the King of Scots until John MacDonald, fourth
Lord of the Isles. When James III of Scotland found out about the treaty
in 1475, he forfeited MacDonald's lands. Ever since, the second son of the
monarch has held the title of Earl of Ross. Dingwall
Castle and the burgh again became royal possessions. Favoured by the Crown,
the power of Clan Mackenzie spread throughout Ross. In 1411 Angus, Lord of
the Isles, unsuccessfully sought to win his claim to the earldom by seizing
Dingwall Castle. Eventually in 1438 Alexander, Lord of the Isles, was recognised
as Earl of Ross.
The Hebridean islands exceed soo in number, of which one-fifth are inhabited. Of the inhabited islands II belong to Ross and Cromarty, 47 to Inverness-shire, and 44 to Argyilshire, but of this total of 102 islands, one-third have a population of only io souls, or fewer, each. The population of the Hebrides in 1901 numbered 78,947 (or 28 to the sq. m.), of whom 41,031 were females, who thus exceeded the males by io%, and 22,733 spoke Gaelic only and 47,666 Gaelic and English. The most populous island is Lewis-with-Harris (32,160), and next to it are Skye (13,883), Islay (6857) and Mull (4~34).
The Hebrides are mentioned by Ptolemy under the name of E (3ovclcu and by Pliny under that of Hebudes, the modern spelling having, it is said originated in a misprint. By the Norwegians they were called Sudreyjar or Southern Islands. The Latinized form was Sodorenses, preserved to modern times in the title of the bishop of Sodor and Man. The original inhabitants seem to have been of the same Celtic race as those settled on the mainland. In the 6th century Scandinavian hordes poured in with their northern idolatry and lust of plunder, but in time they adopted the language and faith of the islanders. Mention is made of incursions of the vikings as early as 793, but the principal immigration took place towards the end of the 9th century in the early part of the reign of Harald Fairhair, king of Norway, and consisted of persons driven to the Hebrides, as well as to Orkney and Shetland, to escape from his tyrannous rule. Soon afterwards they began to make incursions against their mother-country, and on this account Harald fitted out an expedition against them, and placed Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man under Norwegian government. The chief seate of the Norwegian sovereignty was Colonsay.
About the yeare 1095 Godred Crovan, king of Dublin, Man and the Hebrides, died in Islay. His third son, Olaf, succeeded to the government about 1103, and the daughter of Olaf the Red, Raghnahilda was married to Somerled, who became the founder of the dynasty known as Lords of the Isles. Many efforts were made by the Scottish monarchs to displace the Norwegians. Alexander II. led a fleet and army to the shores of Argyllshire in 1249, but he died on the island of Kerrera. The Kingdom of Man which may be considered to have started when Gødred Crovan consolidated a kingdom there in 1079, and to have have formally ceased in 1266 when it was ceded to the King of Scotland following the Battle of Largs in 1263. During the time the Norwegians were in possession of the Hebrides and Man, they divided them into two parts, distinguished by the appellation of the Sudereys and Norderys, or the islands lying south or north of their ideal line of demarcation. Afterwards a bishoprick of the isles was formed; but Man, as being the ancient see, retained the title of Sodor, from the Sudereys. In those early days sittings of Tynwald at Kirk Michael, were regularly held there, and, secondly, that the official residence of the Lord Bishop was in the parish. After the Battle of Largs, the Treaty of Perth (1266) ended military conflict between Norway under Magnus the Law-mender and Scotland under Alexander III over the sovereignty of the Western Isles, the Isle of Man and Caithness. The race of Somerled continued to rule the islands, and from a younger son of the same potentate sprang the lords of Lorne, who took the patronymic of Macdougall.